Iran hits back at Washington’s new anti-Iran approach proclaimed by Pompeo

Tabnak – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo used his recent speech in Egypt as an opportunity to introduce an upgraded anti-Iran strategy to be pursued by Washington. While condemning his aggressive stance, Iranian officials hit back at Pompeo by condemning American interference in different parts of the world.

In this vein, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi vehemently rejected US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s recent allegations against the Islamic republic and said Washington is seeking to sow discord and create new chaos in the region.

“The United States and particularly, its current radical regime, due to its old hostility to the Iranian nation and its opposition to all measures adopted by the previous (US) administration…, has chosen a path in which there is no interest for the US,” Qassemi said in a statement on Friday.

“Iran has always demonstrated that it demands peaceful coexistence with its neighbors, but US behavior shows that it is seeking to sow discord and create new chaos in the region,” he added. The spokesman further stressed the need for all regional nations to maintain their vigilance against “the deception and divisive policies” of the US officials.

Speaking at the American University in the Egyptian capital of Cairo on Thursday, Pompeo claimed that Iran is a "common enemy" of the US and other countries in the region.

"President Trump has reversed our willful blindness to the danger of the [Iranian] regime and withdrew from the failed nuclear deal, with its false promises,” he added. The US state secretary said that his country was working to reverse Iran's regional influence.

Meanwhile, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif countered Pompeo's claims that "when America retreats, chaos often follows," saying actually the opposite is true.

“Whenever/wherever US interferes, chaos, repression, and resentment follow,” Zarif tweeted on Thursday in response to Pompeo's remarks in Egypt, which raised eyebrows in the United States and abroad.

Pompeo described the US as a “force for good” in the Middle East in a speech at the American University in Cairo, which contradicted President Donald Trump's announcement last month to pull troops out of the region. He accused former US president Barack Obama of having sowed chaos by abandoning the Middle East.

In another related development, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said on Thursday that Iran will not be complying with the “fully illegal” US sanctions. “We believe that we should not comply with the illegal sanctions against Iran,” Reuters quoted Zanganeh as saying at a joint press conference with Iraq’s Oil Minister Thamer Ghadhban during a visit to Baghdad.

Since the US sanctions on Iran’s oil entered into force on November 5, Iran has continuously underlined that the United States will not be able to choke off all its oil exports.

US President Donald Trump withdrew his country in May from the landmark Iran nuclear deal and decided to re-impose unilateral sanctions against Tehran. He has described the JCPOA, which was negotiated under his predecessor Barack Obama, as “the worst and most one-sided transaction Washington has ever entered into.”